BBC Radio 2 is marking Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary with a number of special programmes available worldwide on BBC Sounds.

Over two new shows, Jo Whiley takes a trip through the Whoniverse to discover the amazing stories behind the rise, fall, and subsequent resurrection of a British institution.

The Classic Years 

• Whiley hears how the changing attitudes of Britain have been reflected through the TARDIS in a tale that features Dalekmania, Dad’s Army, Mary Whitehouse, Ridley Scott, the Cybermen, Hans Zimmer, the Beatles and the JFK assassination.  
• With new and archive interviews from Doctors and companions past and present, including Peter Capaldi, Patrick Troughton, William Hartnell, Tom Baker, Jon Pertwee, Sophie Aldred, Bonnie Langford, Peter Davison, Sylvester McCoy, Louise Jameson and showrunner Russell T Davies

The Modern Era

• In the concluding part of this documentary, Whiley finds out how despite being cancelled by the BBC, the combination of its fan base, a drinks party and a forgotten BBC sitcom combined to help bring one of Britain's greatest cultural institutions back to our screens.  Along the way we hear never before heard tales from the teams behind the hugely successful reboot including Russell T Davies, Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall, plus Doctors and companions past and present including Matt Smith, David Tennant, Jodie Whittaker, Christopher Eccleston, Peter Capaldi, Sophie Aldred, Bonnie Langford, Ncuti Gatwa, Sylvester McCoy, Matt Lucas, John Simm, Billie Piper and Kylie Minogue.

Meanwhile, former Doctors, companions, and alumni of the series, introduce the music that has soundtracked their lives and careers, and talk about their involvement with Doctor Who in a series of 9x My Life In A Mixtapes, featuring:

Peter Davison (the fifth Doctor) 
Sylvester McCoy (the seventh Doctor) 
Janet Fielding (Tegan) 
Bonnie Langford (Mel) 
Sophie Aldred (Ace) 
Nicholas Briggs (Voice of the Daleks, Cybermen and numerous other monsters) 
Segun Akinola (Doctor Who composer during the Jodie Whittaker era) 
Ruth Madeley (Doctor Who newcomer)
Plus from the archives, Spiderman star Andrew Garfield (who guest starred in Doctor Who in 2007). 

The music of Doctor Who is celebrated in a special concert, recorded at Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff,  featuring the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Singers conducted by Alastair King. 

The music includes composer Murray Gold's best-known Doctor Who themes, the classic years of Doctor Who are also featured by the Radiophonic Workshop's Mark Ayres and Peter Howell. And there are brand new works premiered including The Woman Who Fell to Earth, a full-length suite composed by Segun Akinola and three of Murray Gold's new works, heard here for the very first time before making their debut in the new season of Doctor Who in 2024.

All episodes of Radio 2 Celebrates Doctor Who at 60 can be found here

And in a bonus episode of the ‘Zoe Ball and Friends’ podcast, David Tennant and Russell T Davies join Zoe to look ahead to the show’s 60th anniversary celebrations

The award-winning composer Murray Gold is returning to Doctor Who this Autumn. 

Murray Gold originally joined Doctor Who when Russell T Davies first revived the show in 2005. He composed the music for Doctor Who for over 12 years, throughout the eras of the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Doctors, scoring some of the most iconic moments in Doctor Who’s history.

From revamping the theme tune to creating the music for the Dalek and Cybermen to name just a few, Gold has been widely celebrated for his role in forging a new musical identity for the show.

Murray Gold will once again work with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, with his musical scores appearing when Doctor Who returns in November for three special episodes celebrating the show's 60th anniversary and starring David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor

He will score the fortieth season of Doctor Who when Ncuti Gatwa takes control of the TARDIS as the Fifteenth Doctor with his first episode airing over the festive period.

On returning to Doctor Who, Murray Gold says:

Silva Screen Records are to release the soundtrack for the 2021 Doctor Who mini-series Flux on both digital (30 September) and as a CD set (11 November) which will as well as the soundtrack on two discs will also include a bonus CD featuring the soundtrack of the 2021 New Year's Day special, Revolution of the Daleks.

DISCS 1 & 2 – SERIES 13 FLUX

Volume One

1. Series 13 Opening Titles
2. Chapter One - THE HALLOWEEN APOCALYPSE
   A Little Skirmish
3. What Lies Ahead
4. Renewed at Last
5. Must Not Blink
6. Dancing Across Space and Time
7. Chapter Two - WAR OF THE SONTARANS
   I Know Where We Are
8. I Will Find You
9. Parlay
10. Short-Term Repair
11. Chapter Three - ONCE, UPON TIME
    The Other Things
12. When Is This?
13. There Is No Greater Battle
14. All Is Ending
15.  I’m Not Giving Up

Volume Two

1. Chapter Four - VILLAGE OF THE ANGELS
   Rapid Response Unit
2. You Are Recalled
3. Village of The Angels End Credits
4. On My Way
5. Chapter Five - SURVIVORS OF THE FLUX
   We Are Conversion
6. An Incredible Stroke of Luck
7. Where Are We?
8. Fetch Your Dog
9. Chapter Six - THE VANQUISHERS
   We Have Everything We Need
10. I Can Rend Them All to Dust
11. And Then We Will Play
12. The Ultimate Betrayal
13. Nothing Is Forever
14. Where Would Earth Be Without You?
15. 15. Series 13 End Credits

BONUS DISC – REVOLUTION OF THE DALEKS

1. 367 Minutes
2. A Cuppa
3. Something Revolutionary
4. Breakout Ball
5. The Clone
6. The Production Line
7. Stability and Security
8. Thank You for Being My Friend
9. Activate
10. The Death Squad
11. Bad Boys
12. Bye Fam

As part of this month's learning resouces from the BBC, CBBC have broadcast a series on classic music for schools over the past week: Ten Pieces have focussed on a number of works based around a theme, and Friday's episode, Back in Time, included a section on the groundbreaking work of Delia Derbyshire in creating the Doctor Who theme, presented by currrent series composer Segun Akinola.

The feature can be viewed via the Ten Pieces Orchestral Films page, and the full programme is currently available to watch on the BBC iPlayer until 27th June, with the Doctor Who theme segment starting from about six minutes.

Supporting material is available from the BBC Teach site, which includes downloadable scores for music showcased within the programmes. For Derbyshire, the Doctor Who theme tune has been published for performance by schools, arranged by Iain Farrington, and features arrangements for beginners, intermediate and grade 4/5 musicians.

(The site also features an item on Richard Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, introduced by Christopher Eccleston)

The Arena docudrama, Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and the Legendary Tapes, remains available to watch on the BBC iPlayer for the next eleven months. Its director, Caroline Catz, can be heard discussing Derbyshire on Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone from BBC Radio 6, and her BBC Radio 4 Great Lives programme on the composer ifrom January is still available to listen to on BBC Sounds. 

Also launched recently is a new film, Sisters with Transistors, described as "the remarkable untold story of electronic music’s female pioneers, composers who embraced machines and their liberating technologies to utterly transform how we produce and listen to music today." The documentary looks at the careers of notable visionaries, including Delia Derbyshire and one of the founding figures of the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop, Daphne Oram.

The film was disussed on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour in April, and works from both composers can still be heard in the recentl repeat of the 2018 BBC Prom Pioneers of Sound.

Sisters with Transistors - Trailer

The soundtrack for the Doctor Who New Year’s Day special, Revolution of the Daleks, is now available to download on Spotify, Amazon, Apple, Deezer and Tidal.

Composer, Segun Akinola, who has composed the score for Series 11 and Series 12 of Doctor Who,  said:

Segun is an alumnus of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and part of 2017’s BAFTA Breakthrough Brit programme, with other works including Sundance 2019 favourite The Last Tree, Shola Amoo’s A Moving Image, (nominated for a Discovery Award, World Soundtrack Awards), David Olusoga’s Black and British: A Forgotten History. His work has screened at Sundance, the London Film Festival, LA Film Festival, BlackStar Film Festival and many others.